Teams

The Team Behind the Scenes

Kasim Aslam

Kasim Aslam

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Kasim Aslam is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Solutions 8. Kasim’s background is in custom application architecture and development with over ten years of experience in software engineering. He has built custom web and software applications for organizations in a myriad of sectors such as:

The banking industry including the largest privately owned bank in the United States

The healthcare industry including the oldest TPA in the Country

The non-profit industry having acted as a consultant for a branch of The Gate’s Foundation

Kasim has been a technology spokesperson for Intel and has worked on a contract basis for the United States Army. He has been published across multiple networks including CRM Magazine, Search Engine Journal, Social Media Today, Emergent Path and Explore B2B. Kasim has lectured on the topics of Search Engine Optimization, Marketing Automation and Digital Marketing and has served as a guest speaker alongside Mavenlink CEO Ray Grainger on project management for small businesses. He presently serves on the board of two non-profit organizations:

Arts Interface, an organization dedicated to bringing arts education to children in developing nations.

Boys Hope Girls Hope, an organization whose mission is to help academically capable and motivated children-in-need to meet their full potential by providing value-centered, family-like homes, opportunities and education through college.

Kasim is on the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development Advisory Council as well as the Public Policy Advisory Council. He enjoys traveling with his wife, reading, playing basketball (he isn’t any good) and writing thinly veiled, narcissistic lists of his feeble accomplishments.

Patience Hurlburt-Lawton

Patience Hurlburt-Lawton

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Patience is Solution 8’s resident writer and lover of all things creative. After graduating from Champlain College with a bachelor’s degree in professional writing, Patience worked as a project manager and copywriter while simultaneously hiking her way across the country. She embraces any challenge with an adventurous outlook and loves the learning process of working with diverse projects.

Aside from content writing, Patience is a dedicated singer/songwriter from Vermont who can often be found with her guitar in hand. Currently residing in Flagstaff, Arizona, she is happiest when she is outside, active, traveling, with her family, or with animals—especially her trusty German shepherd mutt, Jackson.

John Moran

Project Manager

John Moran

Project Manager

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Born and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. In 2005, John was VP of The Selmor Group, LLC. This company specialized in generating repeat and referral business primarily in the private Automotive sector. Mr. Moran’s contributing role was in B2B sales and training & implementation of industry best practices for small to medium communication centers which provide the main service to his clients. In 2008, After great success with The Selmor Group, John became VP of Selmor On Demand, INC. Selmor On Demand, was a next generation automotive sales & consulting company utilizing E-Mail Marketing, Direct Mail Events, PURL’s, Staffed Events and saturation marketing. A few of Mr. Moran’s clients included Ford, BMW, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and MINI. The contributing factor to this success, came from the continued growth and development of hundreds of scripts utilizing key words and phrases that motivate consumers to take action to generate appointments and commitments. In 2012, Mr. Moran created his own company which developed a mobile interactive video Platform. This new and exiting application provides an interactive mobile video marketing tool that communicated relevant and personalized videos from small to medium business owners directly to their customers mobile phone. The TYV Group App not only helped to generate new, repeat and referral business for their clients, but also helped solve the miscommunication that arise in many sales transactions. As Managing Member, Mr. Moran brings great talents in IP development, user interface and client relations

Danish Ashrafi

Front End Web Dev. & Designer

Danish Ashrafi

Front End Web Dev. & Designer

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Danish is a Front End Web Developer & Graphic Designer. His previous work experiences have enabled him to gain a broad and diverse understanding of the mindset and skills needed to succeed as a Front-end developer and graphic designer.

These skills, combined with his ability to adapt to a wide variety of circumstances and to manage many responsibilities while nurturing necessary lines of communication with others, He has over five years of experience designing & developing websites for various agencies. His credentials compliment the fact that he’s very well versed in different sectors of design and development websites.

Natalie McCatty

Social Media Manager

Natalie McCatty

Social Media Manager

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Natalie McCatty is Solutions 8’s Director of Content, ghost writer, language lover, and grammar fiend. She has enjoyed being a part of the Sol 8 team since its early days and has since learned a lot about what it takes to write content that is loved by the search engines and internet users alike. She has contributed to numerous top-ranked blogs, including Search Engine Journal, Entrepreneur.com, KillerStartups, SiteProNews, and HomeAdvisor. Prior to coming to Sol 8, Natalie was the brand manager and marketing coordinator at Colorado State University, where she enjoyed her role as “logo cop” (despite never receiving an official badge, though she requested one many times). Besides leading Sol 8’s content initiative, Natalie enjoys crafting, gardening, impromptu dance parties with her husband and 2-year old son, and writing about herself in the third person.

Josie Crecco

Content Writer

Josie Crecco

Content Writer

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Josie Crecco is a Solutions 8 content creator living in rural Nebraska. She especially enjoys the array of disparate topics she gets to research with every new assignment and loves the feeling that comes with knowing she’s helped clients achieve a unique, smart, and captivating web presence.

Although Josie’s been writing since she was able, she has seven years’ content writing/marketing experience and has a B.S. in English from Wayne State College. She’s also been certified by Digital Marketer HQ as both a “Content Marketing Specialist” and an “Email Marketing Specialist.”

When she’s not pounding the keyboard, Josie is busy “momming” a couple of kids and several dogs, cats, goats, geese, chickens, etc.

Andy Akers

Designer

Andy Akers

Designer

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Andy Akers is the design and branding specialist at Solutions 8. He won’t just design your logo – he’ll craft you an engaging brand identity that communicates your company’s message and resonates with your audience. His meticulous attention to detail means that your designs will always feel unified and consistent.

Prior to working for Solutions 8, Andy spent some time selling custom skateboards and working on realistic facial animation for films and games. These days, you can usually find him on a skateboard with a craft beer in one hand and a calligraphy pen in the other.

Stephen Hutson

Special Initiatives

Stephen Hutson

Special Initiatives

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This stems from an obsession with high quality and intentional design, which he believes has the power change the world and does so on a regular basis. He’s unofficially the fastest person to complete all 9 Digital Marketer Certifications, and when he’s not using that knowledge to create killer funnels for Solutions 8 clients, he’s critiquing websites, listening to podcasts, drinking coffee, and reading “7 Critical Principles of Digital Marketing” #shamelessplug

The creative arts found Stephen early in life. He was musically trained throughout childhood and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Percussion Performance from ASU. He’s performed as a soloist for thousands of people and frequently performs with groups, shows, and recording artists. This musical training directly strengthens his digital marketing ability, enabling him to recognize patterns quickly and function highly under pressure. His ability to see the bigger picture and design a system that fits together makes him invaluable to his clients, and incredibly annoying to his co-workers, even if it’s just because he can’t stop talking about it. He brings critical thinking, cohesive design, and light-hearted gifs to every project he works on.

Jan Whitson

Jan Whitson

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From the first time I met with Kasim and John, I knew that I had found my personal “niche market” and I am so delighted to be a cog in the Solutions 8 wheel. I was born and raised in Indiana, attended Indiana State University and Indiana University, and met and married the love of my life. Although I majored in English and Speech, I fell into accounting very early in my working years and it has become something I really enjoy. We moved to Arizona 20 years ago and my husband Doug and I owned our own small business and convinced our wonderful son, Shawn, to join us in our endeavor.

We recently sold the business, and I am grateful for the experience, but happy to have the opportunity to use my accounting experience with a new and very special team – go Solutions 8! I love to cook and we enjoy hiking, attending our local star gazing club and reading. Kasim’s book is next on my reading list.

Drew Leatham

Special initiatives

Drew Leatham

Special initiatives

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Drew Leatham is proud to be adding his talents to the sol8 team. Drew studied Electrical Engineering at ASU but also works as a stuntman on the weekends. Drew started his journey in the digital realm with Web Development and his father’s ’99 laptop, eventually, those skills lead him to work with KPO Global in 2012. From 2013-16 Drew managed a video production team and an in-house hardware repair business. Drew spent the beginning of 2017 as the opening Manager of a VR arcade next to ASU – “VR Junkies”. Drew also worked on the digital marketing and arcade social media campaigns. Drew is also versed in crypto currency and blockchain technology. He is thrilled to be joining the team at sol8 and can’t wait to see where the company is headed.

Kathleen Weinert

Social Media Specialist

Kathleen Weinert

Social Media Specialist

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Kathleen’s appreciation of social media began in college and grew, as a bleary-eyed new mom seeking to connect with other like-minded parents in her community. Through professional and personal experiences, Kathleen brings to the Sol 8 team the art of harnessing social media to increase brand awareness, build a loyal following, and enhance public relations.

Kathleen currently resides in a delightfully dissonant small town in North Central Florida where she daydreams about living somewhere with actual seasons while simultaneously enjoying the simplicity of wearing shorts and flip-flops year round. She spends her free time exercising, reading (mostly audio books these days), cooking (aka coming up with new ways to sneak veggies into her toddler’s food), and babywearing (to preserve her sanity).

Karla Socci Somers

Content Writer

Karla Socci Somers

Content Writer

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Writer, graphic designer, and dog-lover, Karla Socci Somers is a native New Yorker who traded in her downhill skis for flip-flops when she relocated to Atlanta in 2003. Since then, she has survived the 100-year flood, the “Snow-pocalypse” – the worst ice storm ever to hit the South, and most recently, the biggest hurricane on record. Before moving to Georgia, Karla lived in one of the top five snowiest cities on the planet, where 125 inches of snow was “just an average” winter.

Karla enjoys writing about everything from relationships to home improvement to holistic healthcare. She loves creating logos for new businesses and marketing their products and services through writing and design.

When she’s not writing, you can find Karla peddling jars of Socci Sauce: her family’s secret recipe, homemade Italian pasta sauce. Because nobody should have to eat store-bought sauce.

Pamela Sapio

Content Writer

Pamela Sapio

Content Writer

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A Yankee by birth and a southerner by fate, Pamela dreams of one day owning a tiny home in the Pacific Northwest—or, more realistically, a tiny-ish home big enough for her two boxer mixes, Loki and Renly. A writer, editor, poet, children’s book author and dreamer of dreams, she has a B.A. in English and has been writing professionally for nearly two decades. When she’s not writing you can find Pamela hiking with her pups, traveling, snowboarding, reading and, let’s be honest—shopping at Target or PetSmart. Her ultimate goal is to visit all 59 national parks in the United States.

Orren Singh

Project Manager

Orren Singh

Project Manager

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Orren is one of Solutions 8’s project managers. His primary goal is to make sure there is constant communication between the team and the client and to ensure that all parts of a clients advertising campaign are working smoothly and efficiently.

His background includes areas such as website design, content creation, as well as paid advertising for some of the websites he has built for his own businesses.

In his spare time, you’ll likely find Orren reading or be watching the markets. He is a constant, life-long learner. So even if he isn’t initially familiar with your industry, you can bet that (from pure curiosity) he will be in no time at all.